Bug Squad

Odds are that Justin Timberlake won't be there. Neither will J. K. Rowling, author of the wildly popular Harry Potter series of books. They hate spiders. In fact, by all accounts, they have arachnophobia, an intense fear of spiders that affects some 3.5 to 6.1 percent of the U.S. population.

What a perfect camouflage! Have you ever seen a green praying mantis hiding among the green growth in your garden? Concealed. Disguised. Camouflaged. The praying mantis is a patient insect.

Just one word--stems. Bees forage on the lavender in our bee yard, but sometimes you'll see them on the stems.

"Wow! Oh, wow!" That's what people usually say when they encounter dozens of reddish-orange butterflies at a home on the 1500 block of Claremont Drive in Davis, Calif.

If you have Mexican sunflowers (genus Tithonia) in your garden, you can expect a diversity of insects--and not just honey bees. Lately we've been photographing all the insects that visit the Tithonia in our bee garden.